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Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life

August 22, 2013

Modern archaeologists, excavating ancient Egyptian tombs, have often
found something unexpected amongst the tombs’ artifacts: pots of
honey, thousands of years old, and yet still preserved. Through
millennia, the archaeologists discover, the food remains unspoiled,
an unmistakable testament to the eternal shelf-life of honey.

There are a few other examples of foods that keep–indefinitely–in
their raw state: salt, sugar, dried rice are a few. But there’s
something about honey; it can remain preserved in a completely
edible form, and while you wouldn’t want to chow down on raw rice or
straight salt, one could ostensibly dip into a thousand year old jar
of honey and enjoy it, without preparation, as if it were a day old.
Moreover, honey’s longevity lends it other properties–mainly
medicinal–that other resilient foods don’t have. Which raises the
question–what exactly makes honey such a special food? (...)